When Sarah Teczar accepted a three-day externship at the St. Louis Post Dispatch, she thought it would be a good way to learn something about journalism. A French major in the Class of 2007, Teczar had little writing experience. But within days, she had published a piece in one of the top 30 circulating newspapers in America.

The editorial page of the Dispatch ran Teczar's first-person account of having to wait for more than ten hours to cast her ballot in Gambier on Election Day. The essay grew out of a discussion with editors about how to engage young readers in the political process.

Kenyon made national news in the 2004 presidential election when student turnout overwhelmed the two available voting machines, so that the polls couldn't close until nearly 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday--the last voter precinct in the Eastern time zone to shut its doors.

"At some point, I accepted that if I wanted to have a say in the election, I would simply have to wait. So I did," wrote Teczar in the Dispatch. "Now if only we stubborn college kids can stay as politically active as we were during the election, the world might be a better place."

Teczar believes that Kenyon offers superb advantages for exposure to work on a professional level. "Our Career Development Center is great. It's up to students to take the initiative, but they offer so many opportunities for students to develop their skills outside of the classroom," says Teczar.

The Career Development Center's externship program enables students to see what various careers are really like by spending time with alumni and parents in a wide variety of fields. Teczar, a native of the St. Louis, Missouri, suburb of Webster Groves, isn't sure where her career path will take her, but she's keeping her options alive at Kenyon, where she's a member of two singing groups, works as a tutor at a local school, and belongs to a community service organization.